ABSTRACT
Background: Myocardial infarction (MI), is a fatal cardiovascular condition which results in various outcomes, considering time of treatment form symptoms onset. Despite of high importance of first hour after MI onset, a considerable proportion of patients arrive at hospital with delay. To assessing determinants of hospital arrival time in MI patients in southeastern Iran. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted. A validated and reliable questionnaire was designed and used for data collection. Patients with a confirmed diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction were interviewed after informed consent. Results: A total of 175 patients participated in this study. The most of them were male (76.6%, n=134). Median time to hospital arrival was 130 minutes. Its min and max were 15 and 1500 minutes, respectively. The most common reasons for delayed hospital arrival, were waiting for spontaneous recovery 45.70%, and then the distance to the hospital 35.40%. Conclusion: Lack of MI patients’ awareness of importance of times to hospital arrival could be the best underling reason for the delayed hospital arrival. Mass education about the symptoms of MI and importance of prompt care seeking may be effective intervention to reduce MI deaths and complications.